On October 19, 1781, General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered 7,000 British soldiers to the Continental Army after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Yorktown. Lord North, along with the rest of Parliament and King George III, realized that victory over the Thirteen Colonies was not inevitable. In actuality, victory required significantly more troops, more resources, and more money than Parliament could give to the effort. Instead of sending more troops across the sea to North America, British delegates were sent to France to begin forging a peace treaty with the United States. Two years later on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed and the Revolutionary War officially came to an end.
On the 19th of October, 1781, the decisive Battle of Yorktown concluded with the capitulation of 7,000 British troops under General Lord Charles Cornwallis to the forces of the Continental Army. This setback signaled to British Parliament, Prime Minister Lord North, and King George III that triumphing over the American colonies would demand a far greater allocation of soldiers, supplies, and finances than what was feasible for Britain to provide. In light of this, the British government opted to dispatch envoys to France rather than reinforce their military presence in North America. Consequently, negotiations ensued which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, formally ending the American Revolutionary War.
